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Old 05-03-2012, 03:12 PM   #14
Fran Guidry
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plush2 View Post
I kind of agree with Reno.thestraws. The test isn't ruined but it is a bit of an oranges to apples comparison. I could easily discover rather significant technical differences (gain differecnes and certain frequency ranges blurring to the left or the right when doing cancellation tests) but at the same time I couldn't reliably tell the difference between the two in a double blind listening test. I encourage everyone to use ABX or some kind of double blind testing method when listening to these files. If you know which file you are listening to (hitting solo on a specific channel) your subconscious is going to start attaching qualities to each file based on notions that may or may not be real. By testing whether you can reliably tell the difference between them (a=x or b=x) you demonstrate that you can have a valid opinion on which sounds better. If you cannot then, I'm sorry but you were probably imagining the differences you heard.
+1 from me. I've done it myself, so I know this is factual. I also know it from perusing readily available sources on human cognition.

People who really _need_ to know differences and degrees of difference have learned over lots of trial and error what is required for accurate evaluation. Good blinding, elimination of extraneous variables, large number of trials are the basics.

And the kicker in the buttskie is that a bad comparison is worse than no comparison at all, because we humans grab onto and hold tight to bad information just as strongly as we do to good. So a poorly implemented comparison delivers incorrect information which is then used to make bad decisions repeatedly.

Fran
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